The best chicken and leftovers soup (for me)

It’s freezing this week in Sydney and nothing can be more comforting than a hearty soup for dinner. And actually, for even lunch! I’ve taken soup for lunch thrice this week, thanks to my soup container.

For last night, I took inspiration from the soup I had at Quinoa restaurant in Cusco, Peru. It was a pumpkin and quinoa soup, and I’ve always wanted to try to make it. I know it will be impossible to get the exact same taste as there’s no aji amarillo (a Peruvian pepper) available. I just substituted it with 3 small red chillies. Haha! I like my soup a bit spicy. Yup, 3 red chillies is just “a bit” spicy for me.

Chicken, pumpkin and quinoa were the main ingredients then I added whatever I saw in the fridge. There were carrots, green beans and sliced mushrooms. I also had a bunch of coriander so I added may 2 “hand full”. Hand full – I grab herb leaves from the bunch and that’s my 1 hand full. Aside from the onion and garlic, I also added fresh ginger and a piece of star anise.

And it turned out to be the best chicken soup I had! Not for Andrew, he said the best he had was the one I made for him when he was sick in Sao Paulo. I didn’t put anything special there so I reckon his taste buds were just f’d up that time.